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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Having a great time... just thought I'd post a few pictures of what I've been up to since I got here on Saturday...

I was put on "cake duty" w/in an hour or so after our arrival... it came out awesome. How do I keep getting wrangled into these things, though? :o) I keep saying "no more wedding cakes!" (click on the images for enlarged view)

Maybe that's it... it's an ANNIVERSARY cake! I'm glad I was able to do this for them. Here's Jeri & I w/ "our" cake... Jeri did the flowers... they were gorgeous!

Here's the happy bride & groom cutting the cake. The party was an open house... around 90 guests. It was crazy!

Here's my cute little sister, Jill & cool brother, Scott. My older sister, Lisa, was the only one not able to make it. We really missed her.

Today I had a lunch date w/ some of my LE buddies. This is Melissa, Leslie, Jill, Bernadette & me. Gretchen made it to lunch but wasn't able to come back to Leslie's studio afterwards where we took the picture. Leslie's hubby, Chuck, was w/ us, too. Leslie's studio is FANTASTIC. I'm envious. :o) It was fantastic seeing everyone. Really cool to meet Gretchen & Melissa. I love meeting people in person that you've "met" online... it makes that online relationship much more personal, since you now can picture them, hear their voice, remember their manerisms, etc.

Anyway.... it's been a great trip. Exhausting, but fun. We're chilling out for the next few days. Thanksgiving will be nice & then we're heading home on Friday. Long day's drive. (920 miles straight through)

Friday, November 21, 2008

We're heading to Colorado tomorrow for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary & Thanksgiving! I'm so excited to see everyone. All the kids but one will be there. Somehow I got wrangled into making the cake. LOL. It'll hopefully all be baked... just need to decorate it... 3 tiers. I'm kind of excited, actually... how often do you get to make your parents' 50th wedding anniversary cake??? It'll be fabulous, I think. Not sure what to do yet. Good thing I fly by the seat of my pants well. :o)

I've set up a lunch date w/ some of my Colorado lampworking buddies... Bernadette Fuentes, Jill Knapp, Leslie Bitgood, Johanna (Canyon Echoes), Melissa (melissabeads) & a new friend named Gretchen (buddhabeader). I've never met Melissa, so I'm excited about meeting her... Gretchen, too. It'll be nice to see Bernadette, Jill, Leslie & Johanna. We were hoping that Amber (*Naos*) would be able to make it, but she has family in town... bummer.

Might get a chance to go play @ the silversmithing studio my sister goes to. I hope so!

I'll be coming home & setting up a week long holiday boutique the day after we get back. I'm so not ready for it, but have plenty to sell & can add to it as the week goes on. Then one more show mid December & that's it for the year. Whew. :o) (I've already got people asking about doing home shows... after the new year.)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

I was so unprepared & really had no clue how it was all going to happen... but my hostess, Shawn, had done plenty of home parties & lots of entertaining, so she had it together on her end... God bless her. :o) She also had lots of friends & neighbors who loved to socialize. Shawn gave them my website to check out w/ the invite & said that when they called to RSVP, they were telling her that they'd never seen anything like it. They were excited to see it in person. I can't tell you how many showed up... had to be 30 or so.

A little panicked before hand, I had plenty of utinsils.... but still had lots of beads & not a ton of "complete" jewelry... so I wasn't sure how it was going to work. While I was taking a shower about an hour before I had to leave, I realized that this wasn't a typical home party anyway... I was pretty sure that they didn't know what to expect any more than I did, LOL. How cool would it be for them to be able to pick a bead or two & have me wire up a pendant or make a complete necklace w/ them right there helping me design it for them? So, that's what I did.

My biggest issue (other than the fact that I wasn't completely ready when people started showing up ON TIME... I like late people!) was that I didn't get a chance to price all of my beads. Some were priced from a show a few weeks ago, but not the newer pieces... so I basically let them know the price range... a range of about $20... told them about designing a piece together, etc...

It was fun... people were awesome. They came so quickly & even though I wasn't completely ready, they were pretty cool about it. I hadn't even set up my checkout table before people were coming up to me w/ their hands full. It was great! After 45 minutes or so, I finally had a minute to breath, so we decided to get everyone in the same room so I could tell them a little bit about me.

I told them that I was completely overwhelmed. I didn't get a chance to clarify that it was that so many showed up & their response that was overwhelming, ... not that I was mentally & emotionally overwhelmed (not that I wasn't!!) They knew it was my first home party, so I told them that I didn't have it completely together & they let me know that it didn't really show... & they didn't care. I let them know a little bit about me, about the fact that I had been making beads for just less than 2 years... a bit about lampworking, etc... & they asked me questions. It was pretty cool. Several of them also spoke up & said that they'd love to do a party, too. I said "after the holidays!" I can't wait!

Anyway... it worked out great! I think I would've sold more jewelry if I had it worked out a little better... more completed pieces, probably displayed a little better (I only have 3 necklace displays), etc... but the utinsils were a HUGE hit... especially the bottle openers, stoppers & cheese knife/cutting board sets. I have orders for several more pieces. I think I made up 4 or 5 pendants.

But they loved it.... they "got it", too. They knew that what they were seeing was one of a kind little works of art... & they didn't seem to hesitate. Awesome.

Friday night seemed to be a great night to do it... not a work/school night... they could stay late, have some wine & awesome food & hang out w/ friends. It started @ 7pm...the last guest left around 11:30pm, then Shawn got a chance to shop! (she put a few pieces aside beforehand) I headed home around 1:30am.

I'll be doing many more home parties. Definitely. It was a great first experience... & I sold more in those 4 1/2 hours than I did in any of the other 2 & 3 days shows I did this fall!!

I'll figure it out...work out a system... it'll just get better from here. What a great first experience!

I took today off... I slept till 1pm, LOL... (did I mention that I had a total of 4 hours of sleep the 2 nights previous?? I'll figure it out someday.) ...went & saw Madagascar 2 w/ my youngest... chilled out @ home for the evening. Now I have 5 1/2 days to prepare for my next show that starts a day after we get back from Thanksgiving in Colorado.... then my final holiday show is a few weeks after that... so I have work to do!

Geez, this is way too long! I do go on, don't I?? If you stuck w/ me & made it this far, thank you. :o)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I'm thrilled w/ the reactions I'm getting on my new pieces... in public & online on Lampwork Etc... I've gotten so many Private Messages there from people I've long admired, so I'm just floored... it's just made my week.

As I was out filling up propane tanks, I noticed that local "vehicle" gas prices were $1.89!!! Holy mackeral! Isn't that cool? Just in time for a Thanksgiving road trip to Colorado! :o)

& BTW... the Psyche on my final "not quite finished" bead didn't reduce... bummer. I'll keep it in my kiln for my next torching session later today & see if I can reduce it w/out ruining everything else going on around it.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I ran out of propane a few nights ago, but luckily we have a total of 3 tanks between myself & my hubby's homebrewing setup, so we had a partial tank available, so I changed it out & continued on...

Tonight during dinner, I told Brad that it would be just my luck to run out of gas before the weekend, since I'm cramming for my first home show coming up this Friday. Happily, I'll be leaving the house tomorrow morning & would take the 2 empty tanks w/ me to trade out for full ones, so I'll be fine...

Nope. (I shouldn't have said anything @ dinner!)

I've been torching all day, so I guess I needed a break anyway, LOL, but I was in the final 5 minutes of finishing up a bottle opener handle & noticed that the candles on my torch were slowly getting shorter....... uh-oh. "Wait, please, just 5 more minutes!" Seriously, I kept turning up the gas as the candles got shorter & shorter... all I needed to do was top some plunged dots w/ clear & I was done...

Nope.

Well... the dots were plunged, not topped, it'll still be cute. I was able to get the psyche reduced just in time. LOL. I guess it'll be a "stray" opener... I was making complete sets: Salad Serving set, Appetizer set, Cheese Knife w/ Bamboo cutting board, Bottle Opener & Bottle Stopper...... not that they sell as sets, but it's nice to have full sets, just in case... then I just fill back in what sold.

Anyway... I have tons of other things I need to do... make jewelry, get some sleep, etc... I guess I could use the break. :o)

I'm taking a quick break from torching to eat a little lunch, decided to let it get cold while I blog a little bit. :o)

I'm working on making some earring pairs... new style, fashioned after my absolutely favorite pair of earrings that I got 4 years ago @ the Tacoma Art Museum (similar shapewise... the ones I have on are actually gold, not glass). I'm just a tiny bit frustrated... earring pairs are a little tough as they need to match... especially these. They're not a hard shape, but it's a little tough to get a consistent shape &/or size... or if I get the shape & size of a pair perfect, the silver glasses don't strike or reduce to match!!! LOL! It's funny... but not really. :o) Oh well... figure that tomorrow I'll have a bunch of singles that I'll then try to make a match for, right? I've done that before w/ serving utinsils... it works... for the most part.

Anyway... it's lightly sleeting right now. I walked out of my studio & the dog (Diego) wanted outside... so I let him out back & he started to step out on the deck & decided that he really didn't like the weather back there, especially if he had to climb down the stairs... so he came back in & excitedly ran to the front door for me to let him out there... as if the weather was better in the front. Well... it was. LOL. Actually... I think the sleet falling on the pavement/driveway was melting as fast as it hit, whereas the sleet on the deck wasn't... kind of like ice on a bridge...

Monday, November 10, 2008

I think I mentioned that I got some 1 1/4" lentil tongs last week after seeing Michael Barley use some in his class, right? Well... I really like the lentil shape & how my newer decorative styles are translating into this shape. I'm pretty head over heals w/ them all right now...

What do you think?? (click on image for a detailed view)Aren't you just dying to see more??? :o)

Okay... I finally took a break from torching & finishing pieces for this coming weekend to take some pictures of some of my new pieces. I don't have a ton of time to Photoshop them, so I'll be "revealing" them little by little. (oh, the anticipation!!)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

My friend Jennifer Ionta says that she never burns herself when she's torching... I, on the other hand, walk away from the torch each session w/ new fingerprints, maybe a new mark on my arm (from glass flying), etc...

When I was @ Michael Barley's class, I was pulling a stringer @ the end of my mandrel as I was in the middle of making a bead & for some reason, the stringer slipped & swung down & touched my arm! I have a 3" long burn "line" on my arm. LOL. As I was showing someone what I did, I burned the back of my hand... I don't remember w/ what!! Michael says it's "user error", LOL. Well, duh. I think being in a class situation is a little distracting... easier for the glass to get away from me.

Tonight I didn't prewarm a thick rod of clear & when I put the tip of it in the flame, it was okay... started heating up & then decided to thermal shock on me, sending hot pieces flying & a piece went down the neckline of my shirt, landing just above my bra. I have a nice 1/4" round mark there now. While I was in the middle of making a bottle stopper, I decided that I needed to look @ the burn, so w/out thinking, I ended up somehow hitting my fingernail (the bed) w/ the hot bead........OUCH. Dang-it. Yes, it hurt... & it stunk, too! I now have a little brown burn mark on my nail. Crazy.

Friday, November 7, 2008

I'm getting ready for my first home show a week from today. I've been torching nonstop for days... mostly making utinsil sets... which is more "work" than "just making beads", since sets need to coordinate, so your head has to be right there, you know?

I'm loving what I'm doing as far as beads go these days... I'll take a picture for you soon. :o)

I've been thinking about lentil shapes lately... thinking that my new style would look really good in a lentil, so I bought some 1 1/4" lentil tongs on eBay last week after Michael Barley's class & I really like the shape & yes, my beads look FABULOUS as lentils, but I'm thinking that I want to have a lentil press instead of the tongs. I like that I can bring the tongs up to eye level to see what I'm doing, but I'm so used to the handful of Cattwalk presses that I have, I think a lentil press would be a breeze. I just wish that Cattwalk had a lentil trio that had larger sized lentils... like 3/4", 1" & 1 1/4"... I think that would be PERFECT! The lentil trio that they have is TINY, like the smallest lentil is around 1/2" & the largest is 3/4"! I know some people would use the 1/2"... I just don't work that tiny. Plus, a single trio unit would be cheaper than having to get one of each size that I want. MUCH cheaper. Hmmmmmmmmm... wonder if Catt does custom pieces? (yeah, custom = cheaper, huh??)

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What an honor...It's such a huge honor to live in a country where we have the freedom to pick our leaders.

The one who wins may not be who I voted for... or who you voted for... that is out of our hands... but I learned a while ago that I at least have to do my part & vote. You know that when I first moved to Minnesota I knew nothing about the "electorial college" ..I thought that my vote goes towards the COUNTRY's tally, not just the state's. I didn't realize that Minnesota pretty much votes opposite of what I did & felt that in the end my vote didn't matter. I didn't vote in the next election... why bother?? But then this really crazy thing happened in Minnesota... some wacky former WWF wrestler decided to run for governor as an independent. He said that he hated the game of politics & a ton of people got excited about that & went out in droves & voted for him. He beat out both the Democrat & the Republican. THAT crazy election made me realize ONE really important thing... my vote DOES count! It counts if EVERYONE believes this & just goes out & does it. It definitely won't count if you just stay home.

What I tell my kids, (because I've seen some kids who literally made themselves sick w/ worry in 2000 & 2004 when GW was elected, no doubt brought on by their parents' strong negative opinions /reactions) is that for the most part, people have good intentions, whether they're Democrat or Republican & are only trying to do what they think is best for the country...that there are all sorts of safeguards in place to make sure that really bad decisions aren't made, no matter who the president is. So we'll be okay, no matter what.

That's what I tell my kids.

I'd like to believe it myself, LOL.

I just wish that EVERYONE would stop playing games & do what is best for the country.